Vasser, the 36-year-old veteran from Las Vegas, and his team owners Bobby
Rahal and David Letterman have been anxiously waiting for the month of May
since they announced their team's entry in the 86th running of the
Indianapolis 500 last November.

Vasser's entry, at the wheel of the No. 19 Miller Lite Chevy/Dallara, for
Rahal- Letterman Racing marks the team's return to the Brickyard for the
first time since 1995.

"I think we have everything in our trailer we need to win the race," said
Vasser, the 1996 CART series champion. "We are very excited about coming
to Indy. Indy is the biggest race in the world. Obviously, you are excited
as a driver and there's a lot of anticipation. Keeping your eye on the
ball and not getting off track is a key for a team. I don't think that
there's a guy on the team that doesn't have a little skip in his or her
step coming to Indy."

While Vasser, Rahal, Letterman and the Miller Lite team are anxious to hit
the track at Indy, they are keeping their goal in perspective.

"But the important thing is keeping ourselves on the ground and to keep
focused on things we need to be, which is the race," explained Vasser, a
two-time 500-mile race winner (Michigan and California). "While we need to
qualify first, for sure, and we want to qualify well, the most important
thing is the race and being prepared for that It's no slam dunk to make
the race. Weird things can happen and you have to be prepared for that
We're going to put the car in the race first and I think we'll be in good
shape. That's our goal for Saturday. But there are a lot of good cars out
there. There are things that are adding extra drivers from IRL teams and
CART teams."

Both Rahal and Letterman have close ties to Indianapolis -- Rahal won the
1986 Indianapolis 500 and Letterman attended numerous Indy 500s while
growing up in the Indianapolis area.

"We've worked on coming back to Speedway probably since the split happened
in 1996," said Rahal, who finished third in his last Indy 500 in 1995.
"Thankfully this year, Miller Brewing Company really stepped up and made
the commitment to us to come back in a first-class manner. I think with
teams like Penske, Ganassi and Green that the scene has changed a little
bit compared to a year or two ago. We have all the ingredients now to win
it and it's just a matter of us doing our job through the month of May. I
think the opportunity is there to succeed."

Rahal, despite running the CART series the last six years as a driver and
team owner, admits missed the Indy 500. "I am looking forward to coming
back to Indianapolis," said Rahal. "It's been a long, long time and it's
great event. And being part of the scene during the month of May is
something I always remembered. I think the most difficult thing about
Indy, that whole month of May, is keeping your head together and keep
going forward. Because it's real easy to psych yourself out. It's easy to
begin trying too hard. You can really start to out-think everything. You
try to out-think the racetrack and everything else and there's no way in
hell you can. And all that does is breeds even more insecurity. It's much
more an exercise in mental discipline as it is in anything else."

Needless to say, Letterman's excitement to have a team in the Indy 500 is
building with each day. As a child, he watched stars like Mario Andretti,
A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Jim Clark and Dan Gurney at the Speedway. "

When I was kid in Indianapolis, this is what brought the world to our
neighborhood," said Letterman. "It was spring when the Speedway opened and
it meant many things, not the least of which was the end of a grueling
winter. It also meant the promise of excitement and thrills and big time
sports right in our backyard. The last few Memorial Days for me have been
something else. So I was so happy when this thing (Rahal Letterman Racing
at Indy) came together because now my Memorial Days seem like I always had
them as a kid. And to be in the company of Bobby and Jimmy, I can't ask
anything better than that."

Just the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is special to Letterman, who returned
for the first time last November in the Miller Lite/Rahal Letterman Racing
announcement.

"Over the years in New York City, we've had a pretty good relationship
with the New York Yankees and they were nice enough to let us go up to the
stadium and goof around up there," said Letterman. "And the feeling you
have coming into this facility (Speedway) is pretty much the same when you
step out onto the field at Yankee Stadium. It's one of the great sports
buildings of the world."